SOL eMagazine No. 8

S O L - S A V E O U R L I V E S . A C O M P R E H E N S I V E R O A D S A F E T Y S T R A T E G Y F O R C E N T R A L E U R O P E

SOL ON THE C IT IES FOR MOBIL ITY CONFERENCE IN STUTTGART/GERMANY

DEAR READERS

THE SOL eMAGAZINE

The SOL eMAGAZINE is produced by the SOL consor-

tium. All articles are written by the SOL partners. The

responsibility for all contents and statements made

lies with the authors. The eMagazine does not repre-

sent the opinion of the European Communities. The

project „SOL – Save our Lives“ in the Central Europe

Program www.central2013.eu is co-financed by the

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Find more about SOL on: www.sol-project.eu

Welcome to the eighth issue of the SOL project

eMagazine. In this issue we would like to put

your attention on the important event held in

Stuttgart in July, the annual World Congress of

the global network Cities for Mobility in which

we presented our project and held a specific

training session on road safety.

Then we will focus on some recent news from the

EU Commission, an important press release with

figures on road deaths in these years, a new Euro-

pean legislation creating a single driver’s permit and

a proposal for new vehicle testing, which the Com-

mission hopes could save more than 1,200 lives a

year. You can also learn more about a campaign for

the prevention and mitigation of potential conflicts

between public transport and vulnerable road users

held in Brescia, the initiative “Il Mese del Pedone”.

Enjoy reading

Alberto Milotti Project Manager SOL

The 6th World Congress of the global net-

work Cities for Mobility took place in July in

Stuttgart focusing on safe and secure social

spaces. „Cities for Mobility“ is a global city

network tackling questions related to urban

transport coordinated by the State Capital

The project SOL was presented by Alberto Milotti

in the plenary session by showing to the partici-

pants the replicability of good practices in road

safety, deriving from the pilot experience of the

project. In SOL experiences in the field of road

safety were developed in 12 pilot areas covering

local public transport, freight transport, commu-

nication for young people, children education,

drink and drive and young drivers. Main aims are

to raise knowledge of people on safe behaviour

in road traffic and to improve this behaviour by

showing them how to behave on the road. In this

framework SOL also organised a training course

Stuttgart. The congress was a perfect space

for networking and sharing of experiences,

in an enjoyable environment. Highlights of

this year’s event were the thematic work-

shops, the contact forum, and two training

sessions.

which covered the road safety challenge of cra-

shes involving pedestrians, cyclists, children

and motorcyclists. Training packages have been

developed and delivered in all partner countries

to produce a series of short training sections

designed to help non-safety professionals un-

derstand the problems of vulnerable road users,

along with ideas about how to deal with them.

The participants were very interested in the pro-

gress and the outputs of the project and after

the presentation many discussions between the

SOL members and the participants continued

until the end of this successful conference.

ISSUE No. 08 SEPTEMBER 2012

Photo: A.L.O.T.

The European Commission has issued a press

release that calls for immediate action on the

number of road deaths in Europe in 2011.

What does this mean for young people?

Vice-President Siim Kallas said “These figures

are a wake-up call. This is the slowest de-

crease in road deaths in a decade. 85 people

still die on Europe’s roads every day. This is

unacceptable. We will need to sharply intensify

efforts at EU and national level to reach our

goal of cutting road fatalities in half again by

2020. I am writing to ministers in all Member

States to ask for information about national

road safety enforcement plans for 2012. I want

to be reassured that even in tough economic

times this important work, which is so central

to road safety, is not being scaled back. At EU

Although over the last ten years there has

been a promising reduction of road deaths

across Europe of around 6 percent, this figure

was only 2 percent last year. “85 people still die on Europe’s

roads every day. This is unac‑

ceptable. We will need to sharply

intensify efforts at EU and na‑

tional level to reach our goal

of cutting road fatalities in half

again by 2020”.

level, I also intend to target specifically fatali-

ties on motorcycles in 2012. We need to see

the current trend reversed and these deaths

start to fall.”

Work to implement the EU’s Road Safety Action

Plan 2011-2020 is set to intensify. In addition,

Vice-President Kallas announced his intention

to bolster efforts in national enforcement and

to target vulnerable road users using motorcy-

cles.

This has particular implications for young peo-

ple. Road traffic crashes are the biggest killer

of young people across the world. The slow-

September 2012 ISSUE No. 08

Photo: Civitas-ELAN; www.civitas.eu

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YOURS - YOUTH FOR ROAD SAFETY

3

ing of the reduction of road fatalities means

that more young people are dying on Europe’s

roads. The positive news is that young people

across Europe are doing something about this,

including organising the European Youth Forum

for Road Safety and various actions by youth

and road safety organisations around Europe.

In July the Fourth European Road Safety Day

was held, with a special focus on Young Peo-

ple’s Involvement in Road Safety. The Youth For

Road Safety in Europe network is also working

to change the statistics in the European Com-

mission’s warning, to engage young people

in road safety and to reduce deaths amongst

young people on Europe’s roads.

Source and more info:

http://www.youthforroadsafety.org

The Youth For Road Safety in

Europe network is also working

to change the statistics in the

European Commission’s war‑

ning, to engage young people

in road safety and to reduce

deaths amongst young people

on Europe’s roads.

Picture: iSTOCK

Picture: iSTOCK

REASONS OF IMPAIRMENT FOR DRIV ING

Motorists in Europe must meet minimum

standards of physical and mental fitness to

obtain a driving licence, but the rules vary

EU law has been revised to allow people with

epilepsy, diabetes and other diseases that can

affect driving to continue to drive if their con-

ditions can be controlled.

Professional drivers are subject to stricter

controls of their physical and mental fitness.

The new laws will require that they undergo a

medical check every five years.

Drinking, drugs and driving

Driving under the influence of alcohol or

drugs is a factor in nearly 25% of crashes

and claims about 10 000 lives in Europe every

year. Most of these accidents involve alcohol,

but other substances – medicine as well as

illegal drugs – are a growing problem. All EU

countries have limits on the amount of alcohol

drivers can consume. For other drugs, legal

thresholds have yet to be imposed, partly

because the risks are not fully understood.

Determining the danger becomes more com-

plicated when different drugs are used in

combination – feared to be a growing trend.

from country to country. That will change in

2013, with new European legislation creating

a single driver’s permit.

In 2006, the EU launched the four-year DRUID

project to study how the use of mind-altering

(“psychoactive”) drugs affects skill behind

the wheel. One of the largest such efforts in

Europe to date, the €18m project involves re-

searchers in more than 20 countries.

Of course the police must also be able to de-

tect drug use. A recent EU-US study (ROSITA)

trialed nine drug-testing devices which use

saliva samples – one was found reliable

enough for roadside screening.

Fatigue

Fatigue is a factor in 10-20% of road acci-

dents. Professional lorry drivers in particular

are at risk of being involved in a fatigue-relat-

ed crash. EU law limits the time these drivers

are allowed to work.

One way to reduce such accidents could be

to equip vehicles with monitoring systems to

alert drivers who show signs of dropping off.

The EU project AWAKE developed guidelines

for these systems.

“ IL MESE DI PEDONE” CAMPAIGN IN ITALY

“Il Mese del Pedone” Campaign is part of a

wider SOL pilot initiative under implementa-

tion in the Province of Brescia (Italy) under the

guidance of ALOT – Agency of East Lombardy

This pilot has integrated road safety inspections of

existing bus stops with awareness raising of dan-

gerous situations involving different road users, in

particular the vulnerable ones such as pedestrians

and cyclists, in proximity of dedicated bus stops.

Prevention and mitigation of potential conflicts be-

tween public transport and vulnerable road users

are key components of the pilot and the initiative “Il

Mese del Pedone” seeks to raise public awareness

on road safety, sustainable mobility and public

transport. The Campaign was conceived by ALOT

in cooperation with some of the most active local

SOL stakeholders such as the Province of Brescia

and the Educational Territorial Department. It tar-

gets to primary schools in the Province of Brescia

for Transport and Logistics. SOL activities in

the Province of Brescia are addressing public

transport safety issues and the safety of vul-

nerable road users.

with the aim of providing road safety education to

pupils aged from 6 to 11 years old. A brochure on

how to safely behave in traffic as pedestrian with

supporting educational material on how to recog-

nize potential dangerous situations in traffic has

been produced and distributed to children. A dedi-

cated website has been also established in order

to widespread this initiative. (see http://www.alot.

it/ilmesedelpedone/promotori.php ) Launch of the

campaign took place in Brescia in April 2012 with a

press conference followed by a demonstrative ac-

tion done by children. Students of primary schools

posted their safety and mobility messages on an

old fashion Fiat500 and they also “fined” improp-

erly parked cars.

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Photo: A.L.O.T.

September 2012 ISSUE No. 08

Picture: A.L.O.T.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION SEEKS TOUGHER ROAD SAFETY RULES

The European Commission is proposing tough-

er vehicle testing rules that for the first time

would require inspections of all motorcycles

Commission Vice President Siim Kallas revealed

the proposed measures on Friday (13 July) amid

“worrying increases” in highway fatalities after

a decline of close to 50% over a decade.

Kallas also unveiled new vehicle testing propos-

als, which the Commission hopes could save

more than 1,200 lives a year and prevent a fur-

ther 36,000 accidents linked to technical failure.

Testing for scooters and motorbikes would be-

come compulsory across the EU under the new

legislation, since two-wheelers are the highest

risk group among road users, the EU executive

said.

If approved, the directive would require nine

countries that do not inspect motorcycles and

scooters to do so. Under a new ‘roadworthiness

package’ old vehicles and those with exception-

ally high mileage would be required to undergo

a first test after four years, then every 2 years

after.

and scooters. The move comes as the number

of road deaths spiked in recent months.

Statistics show that the likelihood of technical

failure increases dramatically after five years.

Cars and light commercial vehicles of up to 3.5

tonnes which have more than 160,000 km after

four years would then have to undergo yearly

inspections. The Commission also proposed EU-

wide minimum standards for vehicle inspection

and a clamping down on mileage fraud.

The EU recorded 30,900 roadway fatalities - in-

cluding pedestrians - in 2011. In 2009, the lat-

est figures available, motorcyclists accounted

for 16% of fatalities, 20% were pedestrians, and

47% were in cars.

Next steps by 2016

Vehicle testing proposal to be implemented fol-

lowing the agreement of the European Parlia-

ment and European Council.

Find more on:

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/in-

dex_en.htm

The project SOL shall help to prevent road

crashes, deaths and injuries in the Central Europe

Space (CEUS). In 12 pilot areas of the 7 countries

Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slo-

venia, Italy and Austria targeted strategies will be

developed implementing effective programmes to

build a transnational road safety network. Find

detailed informations to all pilot areas on the

website of SOL: www.sol-project.eu

THE PILOT AREAS OF SOL:

• Poland: Olsztyn, Barczewo, Nidzica

• Czech Republic: Region of Liberec

• Slovakia: City of Prešov and Region of Prešov

‑ Selfgovernment County

• Hungary: City of Gyor

• Slovenia: Tolmin, Kočevje and Maribor

• Italy: Province of Brescia and Mantua

• Austria: Province of Styria

THE P ILOT AREAS OF THE PROJECT SOL

GERMANYCZECH REPUBLIC

AUSTRIA

ITALY

SLOVAKIA

POLAND

SLOVENIA

HUNGARY

The SOL Countries

Photo: FGM

Photo: FGM

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SOL – A COMPREHENSIVE ROAD SAFETY STRATEGY FOR CENTRAL EUROPE

The main goal of the project is to promote

sustainable mobility and increase awareness

for safety issues as well as contributing to the

achievement of higher quality of living condi-

tions.

The approach of SOL sees Road-Safety within

the context of sustainable mobility, i.e. to make

walking and cycling safe and to promote a modal

shift from the private car to public transport.

SOL unites some of the most competent RS or-

ganisations from CEUS and worldwide, among

them the Global Road Safety Patnership (GRPS).

The multi-sector partners from eight countries

of CEUS have jointly developed a strategy that

supports the region in catching up with highest

EU standards in Road Safety.

A.L.O.T. Agency of East Lombardy for Transport and Logistics (Italy)

Austrian Mobility Research FGM-AMOR (Austria)

Province of Styria – Traffic Department (Austria)

University of Tuebingen, Institute of Geography (Germany)

HBH Projekt spol. s r.o. (Czech Republic)

ITS Motor Transport Institute(Poland)

University of Zilina(Slovakia)

Global Road Safety Partnership Hungary(Hungary)

KTI Institute for Transport Sciences(Hungary)

Automobile Association of Slovenia(Slovenia)

ZAS – The Association of the Driving Schools in the Slovak Republic (Slovakia)

WORD Olsztyn organization(Poland)

12 PROJECT PARTNERS FROM 8 COUNTRIES OF CENTRAL EUROPE

The project „SOL – Save our Lives“ in the Central Europe Program www.central2013.eu

is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Imprint:

Texts: Alberto Milotti, A.L.O.T. (p1. and Foreword); A.L.O.T. (P. 4), All other articles colected by FGM-AMOR

Design by FGM-AMOR

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September 2012 ISSUE No. 08